all men have the stars
by even lovers drown
Summary: Unrelated 100-300 word drabbles. Glimpses into various moments in different versions of Troy and Gabriella's lives.
1. Circle

Located in a corner of the tinsel-covered shopping mall is a charming toy store with almost-empty shelves, puppy-dog-eyed children, and one man at his rope's end. Intent on not becoming the umpteenth individual to buy his six-year-old daughter a Create-A-Cat or Webpalz, he browses the aisles for a unique gift, one she won't expect.

"How's this?" Troy asks his wife, plucking a box from a ledge while reading over its printed words.

Gabriella's eyes twinkle with fondness. Then she says, "What a better way to tap into the singing skills she's inherited from us?" and smiles at the karaoke game.


	2. Daydream

She remembers growing up like a sunflower, methodically gyrating towards the giant ball of gas that lit up her world. Well, now she sees that the sky can be just as bright, and she flows with the softest of breezes without hindrance.

Daydreaming again, her head's in the clouds. No, past the clouds and reaching for Earth's upper atmosphere.

"Gabriella?" Taylor waves a hand in front of her face.

The smiling brunette breaks her absent-minded gaze with the math homework strewn across her desk. "Hm?"

"Why'd you replace variables A, B, C and D with O, R, T and Y?"


	3. Necklace

Monday morning, Gabriella Montez is frantic breaths and pessimistic worries. Troy finds her at his locker, awaiting his arrival, and notices: untamed hair, pale cheeks, a fearful stance, a glossy, apologetic film over dark brown eyes, a large sweater meant to cover a bare neck. "I'm sorry, so, so sorry," she timidly whimpers, as he gets closer. The floor is suddenly her object of interest. "I've searched everywhere—and I can't—I don't know where—I'm sorry."

He gently takes her in his arms. "Hey, Gabi, shh," Troy consoles her, offering a forgiving smile, "it's not like you've lost me, now is it?"


	4. Rewind

"Make a wish, Wildcat," a smiling Gabriella encourages him after everyone's finished chorusing a song that's sung to him annually_._ All eighteen of the reflected candle flames flicker lively in her eyes.

Dubious, he glances up from the cake. "Is recording this necessary?"

Her expected answer comes: "Yes, it is, Troy." Gabriella strides over to the tripod to check on the camera and sighs, "Oh, shoot, it's run out of batteries."

Then the television screen automatically turns an ashy black.

Alone in the darkness of his apartment, Troy wipes his tears on his ebony shirt sleeve, and makes his wish.


	5. Gone

It was fireworks.

Yes. You grin. Red, green, blue, every color fireworks.

No, wait. Fireworks appear resonant, instantaneous, screaming, 'Notice me.'

It was more of a _s u p e r n o v a_.

Because, of course, the brilliance only reaches your retinas post-stellar explosion. Once the magic's remarked, there's no, 'Hey, come back,' since the star has already left you unaccompanied in the night, wondering if you'll ever have the courage to call her, and you're leaving for Albuquerque soon, so what if it's too late then—oh, what a shame.

You could have outshined galaxies together.


	6. Beach

She dusts off her hands and smiles at a sand-covered Troy, save for his head. "Don't move a muscle," she warns, giggling. "I'm gonna get the camera."

After returning, her eyes narrow at the several cracks in her masterpiece near his neck. ("I sneezed!" he defends himself.)

As Gabriella bends down low to seal them, he accidently catches a glimpse of what's under her bikini top.

Getting up, she snaps the photo and asks, "Want to go in the water now? This heat's making me all sweaty."

"Um, actually, you can go ahead," he stutters. "I'm pretty cool in here."

* * *

**AN:** _Thanks to all who have been reviewing! You've all made my day. If you have any drabble requests, tell me! Oh, and also, I've posted a preview of the next chapter of To Leap Without Looking on my profile page . . . if anyone's still reading, haha._


	7. Sleep

_"When you're in love, you can't fall asleep because reality is better than your dreams."_

* * *

Faking a (hopefully convinging) yawn, Gabriella says, "Good night, Mom. I'm going to bed now."

The older Montez gives her daughter an unimpressed look. "I don't know why you're up so late, you have school tomorrow. Next time I come downstairs at 1:00 am, I don't want to see you reading a book, okay?"

"Yes, mom. Won't happen again."

"Okay." Her mother looks content. "Sweet dreams, Gabi."

She smiles. "You too, mom." After trudging up the stairs, she enters her room and shuts the door without bothering to flick the lights on.

Making her way through the darkness, she manages to locate her bed and collapses on to—

"Oomph."

_"Troy?"_ She's incredulous. "What? When—"

"Just came." He crawls out from under the blanket. "Couldn't sleep either."

* * *

_AN: I've posted a new multi-chaptered story, Between Then and Now. :) Happy Holidays!_


	8. Luck

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

People around them cheer, enthusiastically heralding the New Year, as he swoops down for a kiss.

Arms around his neck, hands on her waist, eyes closed and breathless, they are in their own little passion-filled world. They don't break the kiss for a good while, and she may just as well asphyxiate, but she'd risk that for _this_. Besides, she knows her dizziness isn't from lack of oxygen.

"That was to make up for last year," he breathes. "Did you know not kissing someone at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve is said to bring misfortune?"

"I don't think we should believe in that," she replies, smiling. "Everything seemed to work out fine for us."


	9. Dance

When she used to dance with her father around the living room, they'd stumble and trip all over the place, bumping into the couch, falling off his toes, bursting into uncontrollable giggles.

When he received news that the theme for this year's prom was 'The Last Waltz,' he'd frowned slightly, unsure if his uncoordinated feet would allow him to perform such an intricate dance.

But now, together, they _float._

Gliding across the school rooftop, dancing an elegant and effortless waltz, blissfully impervious to anything or anyone else but each other.


	10. Pet

"Don't open your eyes yet, Gabi … Okay, now you can. Here is my house-warming present to you."

"Aw, Troy, you really didn't have to. But that's a cute st---It moved! Your tortoise statue just moved!"

"It's not a statue, it's the newest addition to our family. Meet Pomegranate."

"You got us a pet tortoise?! Named _Pomegranate_?"

"It symbolizes our _love_, Gabriella. Tortoises live for forever, and their shell is strong, protective and impermeable."

"Oh, Troy. It's sweet and all, and obviously a lot of thought has been put into this gift, but we really can't care for this anim---_why_ are you laughing?"

"Relax, Gabi, I'm just kidding. It's our neighbours' pet. I saw it chilling on their front lawn when we were moving our boxes in, and asked if I could borrow it for half an hour. You were so stressed about the move, so I wanted to cheer you up a bit. Wasn't that funny?"

"Ha ha, good one. You got me. Glad I'm moving in with someone so _hilarious."_


	11. Cupcakes

Gabriella tilts her head to the side, surveying the cupcakes she'd just baked and frosted with Troy. "They look a little …"

"Plain?" he finishes for her, and she nods. "Yeah, they really need to sell at the bake sale tomorrow."

"Why don't we give them faces? We have tubes of red icing with those decorative tips, and for eyes we can use … "

"M&M's?" Troy holds up a packet.

"Perfect," she approves, and he pours the candy-coated chocolate onto a plate for easy access. They work in a comfortable silence, each focused on their own half of the cupcakes until she finishes first, looks up and giggles.

"What?" he questions, in the middle of placing his last set of eyes, and then notices how she's only selected blue M&M's just like he's only chosen brown ones.

* * *

_AN: Sorry for not uploading/updating any 'real' stories lately. Studying for exams (yuck.)_


	12. Boomerang

"Whenever I thought I'd lost you, you managed to somehow reappear again." Troy gives her a crooked grin that probably shouldn't have been so familiar, considering they haven't seen each other in four years. "The first time was when you transferred to East High after we met over winter break, remember?"

Gabriella smiles, grateful there isn't any residual bitterness from their break-up after she moved across the country to go to law school and discovered their relationship wasn't in the best of places. "How could I forget?"

"You're like a boomerang, Montez," he tells her. "Always coming back."

Caution flickers in his voice, and she knows he's wary of them both being hurt again. "Then you'll just have to learn how to catch me."


	13. I Love You

Apparently, they skipped that phase in their relationship where it would take ages to hang up the phone because neither of them wanted to be the first to end the conversation.

Naturally (and unfortunately for their friends or any unsuspecting bystanders), it was a mutual decision to make up for that by both of them insisting they would be the last to say --

"I love you," Troy says as Gabriella digs into her bag for her keys.

"I love you, too," she automatically croons back.

"I love you more."

"No, I … think I dropped my keys in your truck." She leaves him at her front door for a moment and comes back from her driveway looking victorious. "Found them."

He gives her a peck on the cheek. "See you tomorrow. Love you."

She only smiles in return, and Troy lumbers down her front steps confused.

And then, he knows.

_I love you_. She's written the sentence in the faint grime on his windshield, inverted and backwards so he can read it as he slips into his seat behind the wheel.

* * *

_AN: As you might have noticed, I ditched my 100-word limit a while ago. Still going to try and stay under 300, though. =)_

_What's your favourite drabble so far?_


	14. Now

It's now or never.

Now:

Pros: he could just get it over with so his heart would stop trying to shatter his ribs, and those damn butterflies--no, make them helicopters--in his stomach would disappear. Cons: his feelings could be unrequited. And she might slap him.

Never:

Pros: their friendship would continue; there'd be no risk of losing it. Cons: he'd forever regret not trying and why couldn't they ever have something more? Besides, he didn't know if all the exhilaration had altered his memory or not, but he's pretty sure a few hours ago she was leaning towards him, too--after their triple win but before the stupid ball was stupidly shoved in his face by his less-than-smart friend.

And after that evaluation, he leans in close and tastes summer on her lips.


	15. Hawaii

It's their first honeymoon morning.

She bounds out of bed, throwing open the curtains to finally feel that Hawaiian sunshine they'd missed last night due to a late arrival. Her palms are pressed up against the glass, fingers splayed as if she wants to reach out and touch everything—the tall, proud palm trees waving and welcoming her to the island, the crystal blue waves eagerly crawling up a white sand shoreline and the tropical flowers embellishing this vivid scene—to make sure they were real. "Oh, what a wonderful view!"

Still in a slightly drowsy state, Troy surveys her—tousled hair, crumpled t-shirt, dazzled eyes—and claims he has an even better one.

She's this close to rolling her eyes and pointing out they're looking out the same window before realising he's starting to chuckle about how slow she's being today, completely missing a compliment through all her excitement.


	16. Nostalgia

It's recurring, she thinks, the sudden loss of a loved one and the subsequent need to run as far away as possible or risk being trapped in despair forever.

She stands at the doorway of their room, staring at his scattered belongings. The thought of packing every single item into cardboard boxes is daunting because there's just so much of it. It's taken years for all their possessions to accumulate; they're memories collected over time. Although the Venetian painting is new, their wedding photo was framed years ago. She can't imagine clearing it out in a few hours, especially by herself, but the movers will be here soon. And once again, life has cornered her somewhere she doesn't want to be without him.


	17. Petrichor

This unrelenting dry spell had loomed over the town for months, like a nonexistent carpet of clouds in the sky. After gradually gilding shrivelled grass and scribbling shallow cracks in the defenceless earth, its long-awaited executioner floats in to cover a cerulean canvas.

In some ways, her absence paralleled the drought. Even the initial days of her oversees voyage proved almost intolerable, and his smile began to wilt, much like his mother's petunias.

His battered shoes squeak on the airport floor, as he strides past numerous large windowpanes rendered semi-opaque by tenacious water droplets to reach the waiting area.

When she arrives, they embrace, and he tells her than she is his rain.

She laughs lightly because she finds this cute, unaware that it is a proclamation of his sempiternal love for her, but he'll explain later. Hands entwined, they walk outside where the wafting petrichor greets them.


	18. Prelude to Echoes

His name is Trey and just like that, old memories start to paw at my mind like abandoned puppies. Whimpering and shivering and wondering if anyone would ever love them again.

During our lunch break, the quintessential young newcomer—all wrapped up in his charming naivety and Californian skin—entertains my female coworkers by juggling fruit. Three large oranges. Round and round they go.

I lick some jam off my bottom lip.

"Gabriella." The generic voice of one of my acquaintances has a hint of panic to it. "I thought you said you were allergic to peanut butter."

I blink. "You're right." My sandwich lands in the nearest garbage bin. "I'm going to take the rest of the day off. Maybe call in sick tomorrow, too."


End file.
